This project will provide AIDS outreach and counseling to IVDUs and their sex partners and assess its effectiveness in reducing AIDS risk behaviors. The location of the project, Harlem in New York City, contains one of the most concentrated areas of IVDUs in the country. Both Black and Hispanic individuals will be the target of the project, which will examine the effectiveness of three types of counseling: individual, couples and group. Individuals will be recruited through (1) street outreach efforts in Harlem conducted by indigenous ex-addict staff. (2) outreach to high risk women in Harlem Hospital, who are patients in the OBS/GYN, prenatal and family planning clinics. In addition to HIV testing and drug treatment referral, individuals will be randomly assigned to individual, couples or group counseling in the project offices. Group counseling will also occur with naturally existing groups of IVDUs and their partners on the streets, at copping areas, and shooting galleries. The counseling will include AIDS-related information, assessing risk status, development and practice of methods for risk reduction (based on a social learning model) and referral for needed services. The sessions, conducted weekly for two months, will take into account clients' cultural differences. Process and outcome evaluations will be conducted. Baseline instruments, to be readministered at six month intervals, will be used to assess behavior change. Multivariate analyses will be used to assess the impact of race, gender, recruitment source and counseling type on such key variables as treatment status, perception of risk level, change in risk reduction behaviors and seropositivity.
| Davis, W R; Deren, S; Beardsley, M et al. (1997) Gender differences and other factors associated with HIV testing in a national sample of active drug injectors. AIDS Educ Prev 9:342-58 |
| Deren, S; Davis, W R; Beardsley, M et al. (1995) Outcomes of a risk-reduction intervention with high-risk populations: the Harlem AIDS project. AIDS Educ Prev 7:379-90 |
| Deren, S; Stephens, R; Davis, W R et al. (1994) The impact of providing incentives for attendance at AIDS prevention sessions. Public Health Rep 109:548-54 |
| Deren, S; Beardsley, M; Davis, R et al. (1993) HIV risk factors among pregnant and non-pregnant high-risk women in New York City. J Drug Educ 23:57-66 |
